Wabamun Lake Fishery

[EZM]

Originally Posted by spopadyn

Actually, you are both right. What the Park Ranger is referring to is that when the CN Rail spill occurred, there was a substantial amount of PCB's detected in the fish population. This is now gone. Thus, the reason for the C&R being put in place (fish are unhealthy to consume) has disappeared. Wabamun needs some thinning out or it will start stunting the pike population. Limited catch and take would be just fine.

I have 2 points of discussion for consideration.

PCB's ...........

PCB's? I assume you are talking about polychlorinated biphenyl? Related to the 2005 spill? I would suggest that is incorrect information.

PCB's are related to mining activity, and well documented long before the CN spill.

The spill contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naptha)..... and the residual effects can still be measured and will be for a long time. These are not PCBs.

These are a different kind of poison - a carcinogen to be more precise.

Contaminants gone in Wabamun ?.....

I am not aware of any published studies that indicated that the contaminants (PCB's specifically as you have referred to) have "disappeared" or "gone" from Wabamun fish.

There is still a relatively high level of chromium, arsenic, copper and mercury which are, ironically, deemed at safe levels, by the government regulatory agencies.

Unfortunately, the levels are deemed "safe" by regulatory bodies - but appear near the top of the list at Wabamun.

Unfortunately, again, these are not uncommon here in Alberta.

I probably wouldn't sweat eating a fish or two out of there, but I certainly wouldn't do it too often.

Either way ........ opening it to harvest might be worse for the overall fishery .... but I do recognize the potential of under harvest, which often leads to stunting.

A limited harvest is something I'd consider, but certainly not an open limit - that would destroy this lake.

[Segundo]

I remember the lake in the late 80's .

A couple fish and wildlife officers patrolled the lake on weekends as well as the other local lakes.

Those stone rail crossings by the plant had huge numbers of people fishing off them alone , plus countless boats on the lake and so on, and I can only imagine what was taken out in reality regardless of limits.

Openning it up will have consequences .

[Pinhead]

Was out there on Friday, we were the only ones on the east side of the lake. The fish were on, biggest around 43inches about 20lbs. They were picky though. I would love to get out again if I can find someone who wants to catch big pike!

Dan

[chanter]

Originally Posted by EZM

I just hope the lake remains catch and release ....... up until the point walleye overrun the lake like they did at pigeon and a few other lakes where they have now stunted their own growth.

Two, maybe 3 years ago walleyes were but mere legends at Wabamun, with very few anglers reporting catching them. Now they are quite common and easy to catch ..... how quickly they have adapted has really surprised me. Shocking is a better description.

In a few years .... maybe my mind will change ..... and we can thin out the walleyes ..... but for now ..... leave it a C&R fishery .... the trophy potential is outstanding .... let's not ruin it.

I hope the lake will retain the balance of species ..... only time will tell.

Good to hear, 4/5 years ago I helped some ACA friends catch and transport Walleye from Isle Lake- very interesting experience. Don't recall what the numbers were but I remember some people thinking it was either going to work or make the pike really happy.

[Kim473]

Originally Posted by chanter

Good to hear, 4/5 years ago I helped some ACA friends catch and transport Walleye from Isle Lake- very interesting experience. Don't recall what the numbers were but I remember some people thinking it was either going to work or make the pike really happy.

Maybe you can help them take some back to Isle to start its process of fish again after there winter kill a few years back.

[ddddd05]

The larger than normal pike in Wabamun won't last forever, even with C&R regulations. The increased angling pressure is resulting in increased fish mortality.

The reason the pike got so big is that after the oil spill there was low angling pressure accompanied by C&R regulations for a few years. It took several years for the the tar balls to disappear from the lake. During the year of the spill the lake was closed and subsequent years the lake didn't receive a ton of pressure. The power plant introducing hot water into the lake had not closed at the time of the spill so this also contributed to quicker fish growth. The pike can digest their prey quicker in the warmer water. The inflow/outflow of the plant also attracted large pike due to the current.

Since then the large Wabamun pike have become popular and angling pressure increased substantially. To my knowledge the pike population in Wabamun is in decline. I see less large pike than previous years.

I am in favour of C&R regs until populations of pike, walleye, whitefish, burbot and perch stabilize. This may take a decade. Although one day I would like to see walleye tags, whitefish tags, burbot tags...maybe even perch tags.

Who wants to eat a 20lb pike out a lake with increased levels of heavy metals?

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by ddddd05

Who wants to eat a 20lb pike out a lake with increased levels of heavy metals?

Nevermind the heavy metals...have you ever tasted a pike that size? Yuck!!!

[Don Andersen]

So for <> 50 years Wab.was "managed" and now it's not. How about we leave the lake with the present regs. for the next 50 years and see who is more skilled at lake management. SRD or nature.
Looks like walleye are increasing. Too early to tell on everything else.
One thing total C&R does is not target one species and ignore the others.


Don

[HunterDave]

I always find the infatuation with Wab pike a little humerus. Label a lake C&R and everyone goes crazy with the thought of catching bigger pike because of it yet lakes like Lac Ste Anne that have been no keep for pike for longer are overlooked.

I don't buy into the theory that the fishery would collapse at Wab if they ever opened it up due to the close proximity to Edmonton. A few years ago they opened Lac Ste Anne and Lac Lanonne to 3 tags for walleye and the fisheries are doing great. IMO, it's all about proper management.

As far as the increase of the number of walleye caught at Wab, F&W have introduced a lot of them by netting them in Lac Ste Anne and putting them into Wab.....I've seen it first hand. My understanding of what's happening in Wab is that it has a walleye recruitment problem and it is stocked from other lakes for that reason.

I have no issues with Wab remaining a C&R lake, it keeps the C&R anglers happy and it gives them somewhere to go. If I want a pike to eat I can go to Lac Lanonne, there are plenty over 63 cm and some real whoopers as well. Just as long as the biologists know what they are doing and manage Wab correctly. If the time comes that the fish there need thinning and the flesh is safe to eat, then I hope that they do the right thing and open it to get things back in balance.....not just keep it C&R "CUZ".

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by Speckle55

Wow I always laugh when I read some of these post on closed lakes as some lakes don't have the potential to ever be a good fishery but we will try too make them into something they are not ..man is always trying to tweak Mother Nature

Lets see before the leak Wab was a great fishery that had been in Edmonton's shadow ..for year anglers came from all over to fish it.. even had spear fishing done .. so there were lots of fish being harvested

each lake has a quota that can be harvested just like a herd of cows and in some lakes the genetics is of a different strain and even some lakes man has started to feed the lake to enhance the food cycle(Kootenay lake)

Now with Triploids we have again increased the growth cycle and age

with the mentality of making everything a trophy lake is taking away from the spirit of fishing

soon we will be like Europe in places where you have to pay too fish for 4 hours

History of Wabamun Lake as a fishery

Spill

Closed and now a C&R Lake

I hope there are no more spills in any Alberta Lakes

Athabasca River Closed to catching and keeping any fish from Obed mine spill (Plante/Apetown)

Gregg River etc etc

in some cases the rules get in the way of fishing for political reason

Food for Thought

David

Speckle, some people don't like killing fish, nothing to do with political reasons. I personally don't like whacking any fish, have done it once and absolutely hated it. Fishing to me is getting out and being outside, not bonking world record white fish. To each their own and I don't believe we should be attacking each other on our views about what the spirit of fishing is

[syncronized77]

Originally Posted by Chief16

Speckle, some people don't like killing fish, nothing to do with political reasons. I personally don't like whacking any fish, have done it once and absolutely hated it. Fishing to me is getting out and being outside, not bonking world record white fish. To each their own and I don't believe we should be attacking each other on our views about what the spirit of fishing is

This

[BH4L]

everyone keeps saying that over population stunts fish growth, ever think maybe pike arnt supposed to be 25 -40 lbs? if no pressure equals smaller fish due to over population, maybe that's how it was before the humans started fishing....
Everyone is so hung up on catching the bigger fish, its not the result that matter sin all this, its the experience about getting out...

[EZM]

Wabamun is neither in decline nor is it being ruined by any stretch of the imagination .....

At Wabamun you can realistically catch 50+ fish/person in a day with half dozen in the 8+ lb category. That's why people rave about this lake, comparing it to St.Anne or LacLaNonne is simply a stretch.

........ where else can you do this within 40 minutes of a major city?

This is a fishery we should leave alone as far as I'm concerned.

This lake works for me, and if it's been ruined, then point me in the direction of another ruined lake that will produce similar results within 40 minutes of my driveway.